2006 book 13

susan fromberg schaeffer's poison
yay for free advance copies of good books at ala!!! schaeffer's last book, the snow fox, was one of my top ten of 2004, so i was thrilled to see her new one was being given away. the best thing about schaeffer is how different each of her books is from the others--snow fox takes place in feudal japan, whereas this novel takes place in modern day england. the story of a philandering poet (whose first two wives both killed themselves) and the toll his death takes on his squabbling family and friends bears more than a few hints of the plath-hughes family, and i was very into it until the somewhat abrupt ending (considering the book was already 600 pages, i felt things could have been fleshed out a little more for the finale).